Meals served to humans generally include multiple courses served at different temperatures. Normally, each courses is served on a different plate, often at different temperatures, and at different time intervals. In some circumstances, large groups of people must be fed where special requirements are imposed. In some environments, such as school cafeterias, incarceration facilities, hospitals, military bases, summer camps, airplanes, nursing homes, etc., food service must be provided to large groups without generating excessive dirty dishes or utensils, and those dishes and utensils must limit manipulation problems at service, provide ease in storage, be easily cleaned, protect the user from sharp objects, and even respect strict logistical restraints.
The use of food serving systems based on trays is known in the art. The first generation of trays was made of disposable structures with removable inserts. More robust trays include a light-weight frame with vertical separators designed to segregate the courses, but these trays offered little or no thermal insulation between the courses. A common example of these trays include the familiar TV dinner tray, which is able to hold frozen food for long periods of time and later be placed in a conventional oven. Trays may include compartments to separate cold foods from hot foods, wet courses from dry courses, and prevent mixing of the courses. Trays may also include compartments in which small items such as condiments can be served.
Thin-walled metallic trays are light and disposable but offer little temperature control of the food. If heated courses are placed in these trays, the trays themselves can become hot, the hands of users can be burned, and food courses can reach thermal equilibrium within minutes. Newer versions of trays include insulation placed within a shell made by the tray, but these shells are often bulky, require numerous and expensive manufacturing steps, result in very small compartment sizes, and are still vulnerable to thermal equilibrium unless they are covered by a second tray or a lid. For this reason, a thin-walled robust food tray capable of insulating the food is needed.
Another problem with existing trays is the incapacity to provide for an efficient and safe way to supply of utensils without resulting to a dedicated compartment in the tray, or an independent and external supply of utensils. Placing utensils within a compartment often results in the utensil being in contact with the food. What is needed is a food tray able to provide for utensil delivery system without negatively affecting the other functions of the food tray, such as the capacity.
Yet another problem of existing food tray technology is partial insulation resulting from stacking trays. Food place within a recessed portion of a first insulated food tray is insulated from the environment, but if the courses include hot and cold portions located in different compartments, both courses reach an intermediate thermal equilibrium quickly within the food tray. What is needed is a compartment-specific insulated food tray. The use of compartment-specific insulation may also offer odor control in order to better preserve the aroma of each course.